“How Martha Saved Her Parents from Green Beans”

Jennifer Collins, MTL at Park Lane, paired with Rob Izumi, Lead GA, to create a craft to go with the book “How Martha Saved Her Parents from Green Beans.” Kids Club crafters cut out paper kids and veggies. The cutout kids were attached to a cardstock background with a small horizontal slit in it, while the veggie was attached to a Popsicle stick that slides through the slit. When the Popsicle stick moves up and down, the veggies look like they’re growing!

Nature Prints

Using leaves and branches Jen collected at home, Park Lane’s Kids Club made awesome watercolor prints. Kids picked out their favorite plants, placed them on watercolor paper and then sprayed watercolor paint over the plants. Make sure to use washable paints! When the leaves were picked up off the paper, they left behind images that turned out beautiful for all the kids! This craft at Park Lane didn’t come with a story, but it could be paired with a fun book about planting and growing from the WKF Kids Book Club.

"Bad Apple"

Towards the end of the summer kids at Park Lane read “Bad Apple” to compliment other Back to School activities. After the Kids Club finished reading, they all made their own apple creations. Kids cut out their apples, added googly eyes, and drew on noses and mouths. Some kids got really creative, giving “Mac” the apple tongues, hair, and even moustaches!

What it Takes

Each of these events, like every Kids Club event at Park Lane, lasted about 45 minutes (any longer and kids get restless). Planning Kids Club and making a sample craft takes 1 or 2 hours each week. The day of, set up and clean up take a total of 1 hour.

Four hours a week is not a large amount of time for an event that draws 25-30 kids during the school year and 35-45 kids during the summer. Jennifer has noticed that these events translate to big sales for her store!